at present day how many seats does SF have the right to take at Westminster?

7

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what are some of the current challenges facing SF?

to revive the power sharing institutions at Stormont as many nationalists don't want to see a return to direct rule, to come to some sort of deal with the DUP over the ILA, under a new inexperienced leadership and their North/South contradictions

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what are some of the current opportunities facingSF?

only 0.3% behind in the DUP, continued their dominance over the other nationalsit parties, the absence of a short-term deal may provide SF with the opportunity to advance a reform agenda to take advantage of the rising number of nationalists in NI

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are SF the only All Ireland party?

yes

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`how have SF attempted to appeal more to younger nationalist voters?

by adopting more liberal social policies, going from opposing abortion rights to supporting it under certain circumstances, and championing LGBT rights and marriage equality

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how have SF shown themselves to be an anti-austerity party?

by opposing Welfare Reform and pledging an extra £1 billion to the NHS

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which two leaders in particular provided SF with a much more solid leadership than that of the SDLP?

when did SF officially take over the SDLP to become the biggest nationalist party?

in 2003 when they achieved 23.5% of the vote whereas the SDLP only achieved 17%

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who is the current leader and deputy leader of SF?

Mary Lou Mcdonald is the leader and Michelle O'Neill is the deputy leader

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how many TDs (Irish equivalent of MPs) did SF win in 2016?

23

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what are some of the changes in SF's position since 1998?

principle of consent, opposition to continued republican violence, support for the police and justice system, dropped EU opposition and accepted internal NI parl

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what are some of the reasons for the rise of SF?

there has been a rise in Catholic population form 70:30 to 50:50, viewed as having delivered on nationalist agenda, viewed to have taken their role in gov seriously and reach out to unionists (eg McG attending NI football match), and richest party

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when was the SDLP formed?

1970

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what are some of the traditional beliefs of the SDLP?

moderate non-violent Nationalism (constitutional republicans), aspires to a future united Ireland but prepared to get there through peaceful and constitutional methods, fights for civil rights for Catholics and opposed to the provisional IRA

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who is the SDLP's current leader and deputy leader?

Colum Eastwood is the leader and Nichola Mallon is the deputy leader

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what are some of the SDLP's strategies and policies?

opposes changes to NI abortion law, provide free childcare to parents who are in work or education, believes welfare system is efficient as it is transparent and supports those in the workplace, supports parades commission and ILA

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what are some of the additional strategies and policies of the SDLP?

moving to support same sex marriage under Colin Eastwood, campaigning for devolution of corporation tax powers, Anti Brexit and campaign for Scottish style commission on devolving powers to NI

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how have the SDLP reduced their decline in the NI Executive?

changed leaders multiple times- currently under the leadership of a young dynamic leader Colin Eastwood, accepted equal marriage, appeal to younger demographic by altering their views on various topics and went into opposition to gain more support

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when did the SDLP enjoy their highest % of the votes and what was it?

achieved 22% of the vote in 1998

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how much has the vote declined from 1998 to 2016?

only won 12% of the vote in 2016- a decrease of 10%

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how many votes did the SDLP lose between 1998 and 2011?

80,000 votes

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what are some of the common derogatory phrases used to describe the SDLP?

"party of the past" and "middle class time wasters"

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why has the SDLP declined?

suffered from an unstable leadership, seen as old and out of touch, seen as too soft by many nationalists, wren't taken seriously during the negotiations as they didn't have any weapons

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what happened in the general election in 2017 in terms of Westminster seats for the SDLP?

lost all 3 of their seats

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have the SDLP been left without a purpose since the GFA?

yes

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what are some of the traditional beliefs of the Alliance party?

traditionally a light unionist party but have attempted to get more nationalist votes, positioned in the centre of the political spectrum and it opposes mandatory coalition in the GFA

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when was the Alliance party created?

1970

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when did Alliance achieve their highest % of the vote and what was it?

achieved 14.3% of the vote in 1977

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who is the leader and deputy leader of the Alliance party?

Leader Naomi Long and Deputy Leader Stephen Farry

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did Alliance go into Opposition in 2016?

yes

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have Alliance ever achieved more than 10% of the vote since the GFA?

no

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how does Alliance designate in the Assembly?

designates as 'other'

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how has the electoral support changed since 1998?

there has been slow growth

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how and why did Naomi Long lose her Westminster seat in 2015?

lost is after unionists campaign to unseat her electoral post by the DUP/UUP after the flag decision in 2012 when many of Alliance's offices were attacked by loyalist extremists

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are they fighting for votes on an ever shrinking middle ground?

yes

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what are some of the challenges that Alliance face?

hasn't been a big breakthrough, reduction in seats in each constituency (6 to 5)- potential threat as they rely heavily on preferences, difficult to break down entrenched tribal orange/green political culture, has a geographically concentrated vote

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what are some of the UUP's economic policies?

supports manufacturing, indentifies tourism, agri-food and creative industries as growth areas for the economy, supports reduction of corporation tax to 12.5% and reduce air passenger duty

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what are some of the UUP's health policies?

devise new transfer methods for primary school leavers, committed to funding further and higher education, opposed to rise in cost of higher education and committed to maintaining EMA

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what are some of the UUP's policies on social issues?

offers members a conscience vote on abortion and opposes same sex marriage

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what is the UUP's stance on constitutional and legacy issues?

committed to maintain the union, supports dismantling the parades commission, believes solution to flag protest is by being flexible when the Union flag is shown, sees no need for an ILA at this time supports the legacy measures set out in the SHA

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what is the UUP's stance on Brexit?

honours the referendum decision to leave the EU, guarantees that no group is worse off as a consequence of Brexit, invest in infrastructure to enable NI to become 'The Gateway to the EU' and wants to ensure that there is no hard border

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when was the UUP founded?

it was founded in 1905 making it the oldest unionist party

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when did the UUP achieve their highest % of the vote and what was it?

achieved 22.7% of the vote in 2003

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who is the current leader of the UUP?

leader is Robin Swann

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why was there unrest when Trimble became the first Fm?

the UUp was seen as divided and not hard line enoughon nationalists, received backlash from unionist community over issues such as failure to secure prior decommissioning of IRA weapons, the NSM and proposed reform of the RUC

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how many votes have the UUP lost per year since 1998?

6,500

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what percentage of these votes have gone to the DUP?

61%

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what is the UUp's traditional voting base?

middle class unionist

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who is an example of an important figure who left the UUP as a result of going into gov with SF before the IRA had decommissioned

Arlene Foster

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what are some of the ways that the UUP have tried to reverse their delcine?

going into opposition in 2016, tried to become more liberal, multiple changes in leadership eg Mike Nesbitt and tried a number of electoral pacts eg in 2010 signed an electoral pact with the tories

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when was the DUP founded?

founded in 1971 by Ian Paisley

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who is the current leader and deputy leader of the DUP?

leader is Arlene Foster and deputy leader is Nigel Dodds

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what is their political position?

right wing

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how many HoC seats do they currently have?

10

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what is their stance on social issues?

strongly against gay marriage and abortion

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why did the DUP withdraw from the GFA negotiations?

withdrew in protest of SF as they had strong links with the provisional IRA and refused to order the IRA to decommission

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who was the DUP's sole Member of the European Parliament and when did he/she resign?

Jim Allister resigned in 2007

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why did he resign?

resigned in opposition to the decision to enter a power-sharing gov with SF

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what were the DUP's initial policies and strategies for dealing with SF?

refusing to attend NSMC meetings, refusing face-to-face meetings with SF, opposed to RUC reform and rejection of any involvement in NI from RoI

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what are some of the DUP's health policies?

£1 billion for the NHS and 1500 more nurses/midwives and 200 more consultants

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what is the DUP's stance on Brexit?

pro-Brexit

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when did the DUP achieve their biggest win and how many seats did they win?

in 2015 they won 38 seats

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how did changes in the St.Andrews Agreement help the DUP?

because since the position of FM goes to the largest party has helped the DUP enormously as Unionists are encouraged to vote DUP to prevent a SF FM

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what are some of the challenges facing the DUP?

needs to find an agreement with SF to restore gov, under pressure by their base to get the Assembly up and running and but cannot give in to SF, previous comments such as "crocodiles" increased SF vote and internal challenges to Foster's leadership

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who is an example of one of the 10 MLAs the DUP lost in 2017?

Little Pengelly

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what is the term often used to describe how the DUP "feeds" of SF and vice versa?

"symbiotic" relationship

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why does the DUP have a huge influence over the tories?

signed a deal with them that gave them a slight majority, meaning that the tories rely heavily on them (eg they collapsed the Brexit agreement because it wanted NI to be in line with the rest of the UK)

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what is the famous quote by Peter Robinson over the future of the DUP

"elections in the future won't just be about counting heads, but winning votes"